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<title>WinterShock inspired by Home Free songs by Laurel_Wolford</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849013">WinterShock inspired by Home Free songs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurel_Wolford/pseuds/Laurel_Wolford'>Laurel_Wolford</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky in a tux, F/M, First Kiss, Gen, Girls' Night Out, Inspired by Home Free songs, Meet-Cute, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Pool Shark Darcy, Pool Shark Nat, What are words?, WinterShock - Freeform, fundraising gala, romanogers if you squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:15:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,209</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849013</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurel_Wolford/pseuds/Laurel_Wolford</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky gets dragged out by Steve and Sam to watch over the women of the Avengers' Compound as the enjoy a girls' night out at a local bar.  He watches enthralled at Natasha and a mystery woman proceed to pool shark a bunch of drunk men out of their money.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov (Mentioned) - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>160</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Why Not?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Each chapter of this story is inspired by a song from the AMAZEBALLS (to quote Darcy) a capella country group Home Free.  If you love good music then you should check these guys out.  They even won season four of Sing Off, by a huge margin.</p><p>Thanks so much for reading.  Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Inspired by </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why Not</span>
  </em>
  <span> by Home Free - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eVrcIr313w%C2%A0">Why Not offical video</a></span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>~~~~~~~</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky sat at the high-top table in the corner of the local bar that Steve and Sam had dragged him out to.  They had unilaterally, in his opinion, decided that he needed to get out of the Avengers Compound for something other than a mission.  The only reason that he ultimately folded and agreed was finding out that a bunch of the women from the Compound were going to be there and that the three men were basically going as out-of-sight bodyguards for them.  That was how he found himself nursing the now warm beer that did nothing for him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A loud laugh near the pool table, where Natasha had been teaching one of the ladies to play, caught his attention.  His hand with the bottle froze halfway to his lips as he saw her for the first time.  Long, dark hair; a body like an old glass Coke bottle; and lush, full lips painted red as sin that were currently smirking mischievously at the irate local guy that was fuming from having lost to the young woman.  Bucky vaguely recalled that she was that woman that Nat had been teaching to play.  But the wicked setl of her gorgeous mouth made him wonder if the entire thing had been a set-up from the beginning, that maybe she and Nat had been playing pool shark all along.  The thought made the edge of his lip tug in a tiny smirk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The guy was clearly drunk and starting to get more agitated by the second. Bucky was setting his beer down to go intervene when Natasha walked up behind the guy and whispered something in his ear.  The man visibly paled and all but shoved his money at the woman and fled the bar entirely.  Bucky watched as the brunette picked up her own bottle of beer and shared a cheers with Natasha.  The two women were close friends, or at least as close as Natasha ever let anyone get.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So how had he never heard of the woman before?  She obviously worked out at the Compound or she wouldn’t be with Nat.  Bucky wondered what she did there.  She didn’t move like an agent, she moved much to carefreely, no precision or control.  She wasn’t always aware of her surroundings, at least no more than a normal woman at a bar. (And don’t even get him started on the fact that women these days had to be so aware of what was going on around them when they just wanted a drink and to hang out with friends.  He wanted to shake some sense into every man of the past fifty or so years.)  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, no, the woman was not an agent of any kind.  She must work in an administrative or office job of some sort.  But then, how would Nat have gotten to know her?  Bucky had way too many questions about the woman.  He must have been staring longer than he realized because it took an elbow to his side from Steve to get his attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s got you so interested?” The blond asked his oldest friend.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who’s that?” Bucky pointed with his bottle toward where Nat was “teaching” the woman to play pool again.  Steve glanced over to where his friend motioned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dunno,” he responded as he took a sip from his beer bottle.  “Seen her with Nat a few times, but I don’t know anything about her.  Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky tried to think of any reason that wasn’t the fact that he was attracted to someone for the first time since before he fell from the train in the Alps.  “She’s a shark.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve whipped his head around and glared at his pal.  “That’s not a nice thing to say about a lady you’ve never even met.  She looks perfectly nice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky stared at Steve for a moment before letting out the first real laugh since before the war.  He tried not to notice that many of the people that worked at the Compound all stopped to stare at him.  He clapped the blond on the shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god!” He struggled to regain his breath.  “I needed that.  Thank you.”  Steve looked torn between still wanting to defend the woman and being overjoyed at his friend’s smile and laugh.  Which, of course, just set Bucky off again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally Steve had had enough.  “While I am ecstatic at the fact that you’re smiling and laughing finally, I don’t see what about this situation is so funny.”  He crossed his arms over his chest and gave his best I’m-Captain-America-so-you-will-answer-me look.  (Bucky wanted to copyright that.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taking pity on his friend Bucky explained, “She’s a </span>
  <em>
    <span>pool</span>
  </em>
  <span> shark, Steve.”  Seeing the confusion he continued. “She pretends to not know how to play.  For example, having Natasha teach her, in just about as lewd a manor as possible to catch the attention of the drunk men. The guy will come up to bet her, she’ll lose a game or two to get him to up the stakes and then she’ll kick his ass and take all his money.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?  Really?” Steve whipped around to observe as Natasha leaned over the woman, closer than just a friend would, to help her position and pull back on the stick.  The cue ball barely had enough momentum to reach another ball on the table, but the two women shared a very sensual smile with each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn that’s hot,” Sam said as he set down three cold bottles on the table.  The other two men couldn’t help but nod in agreement, even as a blush stole up Steve’s neck.  “Who’s the babe with Nat?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Her sharking partner,” Bucky replied.  Sam tossed his head back with a guffaw.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh man, that’s priceless.” Sam took a swig from one of the new bottles.  “This will be fun to watch.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The three men settled in to watch the masterpiece that was Nat and the woman sharking multiple men through the night.  During that time Bucky learned several things about the woman.  She had the cutest gap between her front teeth, she played coquettish very well, and that everytime Nat would take the woman’s drink to get her another one, the same bottle came back but it had been filled with cold water.  Smart.  The woman played the part of being tipsy, even drunk, but was completely sober.  Nat had noticed that she had the attention of the three of them, even winked in acknowledgement, but the woman didn’t seem to realize she had an audience.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There had been another man start to get belligerent with the woman about not wanting to pay.  Bucky put his hand on each of his tablemates’ arms to keep them sitting when they wanted to go intervene.  When the glanced at him he just tilted his chin toward the scene where Natasha had just slipped up behind the man.  The three chuckled as the man paled, paid, then hurriedly left the bar.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn they’re good,” Sam praised the two women as they set up the “pool lesson” again.  “I wonder how much money they’re going to be leaving with?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“At least a couple hundred each,” Bucky answered.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sam whistled low.  “Not bad for a few hours of what basically amounts to goofing off for them.”  The other two nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky didn’t even need to look at the table to know what was going on, based solely on the blush on Steve’s cheeks.  When would Steve ever get his head out of his ass and ask out Natasha?  Seriously.  His stupid crush was getting rediculous.  Poor guy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After the lesson had been going on for almost twenty minutes Steve asked Bucky, “You’re pretty good at pool right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky looked offended at his best friend.  “I’m a sniper.  Of course I’m good at pool.  It’s all trig and traj, just like shooting.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You should go try your hand then, since it looks like they finally scared off all the other gullible suckers in the bar.”  Bucky narrowed his eyes at Steve, then flicked his eyes over to Sam.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You guys paying the bets?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve and Sam shared a long, silent conversation before both breaking out in matching grins.  “Yeah, we’ll cover it,” Sam agreed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The three men stood from the table and made their way toward the pool table on the far side of the bar.  A rare sense of nervousness flooded Bucky the closer he got to the woman.  He couldn’t believe that he was this nervous to talk to a woman, no matter how drop dead gorgeous she was.  No matter how well she’d played all the fools throughout the evening.  No matter that Nat, the most paranoid person he knew, trusted the woman in her personal space.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello boys,” Natasha’s voice ripped Bucky out of his thoughts.  “Finally done watching?”  Steve blushed and ducked his head, Sam smiled and laughed, and Bucky glanced at the woman who seemed surprised that they’d been watching her and Nat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We wanted to find out if Bucky could hold his own against your friend,” Sam told her.  Nat appraised Bucky and then Sam and Steve.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me guess,” she drawled.  “He talked you two into paying for any bets.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky shrugged his shoulders unrepentantly.  “Their idea, their money.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Smart man.”  Bucky turned at the words and realized that it was the first time all evening that he’d heard the woman’s voice.  He immediately decided he liked it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I occasionally have my moments,” he responded somewhat shyly.  He used to be good at this.  Talking to this woman was going to be more difficult than he’d anticipated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Considering the company you keep, I’m going to reserve judgement,” she teased.  That got the attention of Sam and Steve, both of whom looked slightly affronted. “Oh don’t even start, you two.  Nat’s told me about all of the stupid shit you two have done.”  They looked skeptical.  She looked at Steve.  “No parachute?  Really?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” Bucky was startled.  He turned to his best friend.  “What’s she talking about?”  He knew that it was probably going to be a doozy of a story by the sheepish look on Steve’s face as he suddenly found his feet the most interesting thing in the room.  “You know what?  Nevermind.  I’ll deal with you later.” He told his friend who just hunched his shoulders even more.  He turned back to the woman.  “Apparently I need to </span>
  <em>
    <span>reconsider</span>
  </em>
  <span> the company I keep.”  He took a steadying breath and held out his right hand.  “Bucky Barnes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Darcy Lewis.” She immediately took his hand in a firm grip that most people seemed to have forgotten how to do.  He liked that her handshake wasn’t some limp wrist or dead fish-like shake.  It made her seem confident.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How’d you get so good at pool?” He wanted to know more about her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I had a scholarship to Culver for tuition and books, but I still had to come up with room and board and everything else.  I had learned how to play while growing up in a group home, but I mastered being a pool shark in college.” She shrugged like she hadn’t just admitted to being an orphan to a bunch of strangers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you promise to skip the sharking part, would you like to play a game?” Bucky gestured toward the table behind her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She cocked her head to the side in thought.  The mischievous smirk that pulled at her full lips left him breathless.  “Best two out of three?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t help the mirroring smirk that adorned his face.  “Why not?”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. When You Walk In</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bucky hates fundraiser galas . . . until Darcy walks in.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Inspired by </span>
  <em>
    <span>When You Walk In</span>
  </em>
  <span> by Home Free - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRji6cwZlw%C2%A0">When You Walk In official video</a></span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky, uncomfortable in his tuxedo, absolutely hated these stupid gala fundraisers.  He understood the need for them, both the financial and the political reasons.  But he still despised having to get all dressed up and smile at a bunch of overly rich people that were absolutely terrified of him.  The only reason that he even agreed to come to this thing in the first place is that Darcy was coming as Natasha’s plus one.  Thor was off world so Jane refused to come, but Darcy had wanted to attend.  So she asked Nat if she could come with her.  And of course the red head agreed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Darcy.  She was everything that Bucky hadn’t realized he needed in his life.  Her fun, modern, sarcastic attitude never failed to make him smile, and the fact that she never flinched or feared him was a balm to his troubled soul.  Not to mention that she was so beautiful.  They’d been dancing around this thing between them ever since the pool game.  

He had been dumbfounded that she’d beat him the first round.  He knew he’d made the same mistake as every other man had that night and underestimated her.  But when he started focusing on playing his best (she fussed at him to not take it easy on her) he soundly beat her the next two games.  She was such a good sport about it, even demanded he buy her a beer in compensation. He’s certain he fell a little in love with her right then.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve sucking in a small gasp brought Bucky back to the present.  He glanced at his friend to find out what caused his reaction.  When he noticed that Steve was staring at the entrance, not breathing, Bucky could guess who just walked in.  He slowly turned to face the door, suddenly flooded with nerves about seeing Darcy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Darcy stood regally at the top of the three stairs next to Natasha.  The training in Bucky’s head had him registering that Nat had on a full length, dark green spaghetti strap dress with her hair pulled back at her neck.  He was as sure that the green brought out her eyes as he was that Steve still hadn’t taken a breath.  But Bucky only had eyes for Darcy.  Her normally long, wavy hair was pulled back in a softer version of victory curls, and her <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/581034789423677234/">dress</a>, </span>
  <span>reminiscent of fancy dresses from before the war, was the same shade of blue as his original Howlies jacket.  The soft lace overlay seemed to soften the look, while the belt made her waist appear even smaller than it normally did.  The dress was completely modest, but Bucky’s mind was stuck on repeat about how sexy she looked.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wondered if she realized that between the curls and the color and design of the dress that she was basically declaring herself as his.  Then she caught his eye and the tiny smirk she donned let him know that she had known exactly what she had done.  He was certain that his mouth was open in shock as he could only stare at her in awe.  She wanted him, just as much as he wanted her it seemed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she moved to descend the few stairs inside the door, the sound from the room came rushing back in.  He hadn’t even noticed that he lost track of the sights and sounds of the others in the room; he could only focus on Darcy.  He felt himself pulled forward as she glided toward him, the sea of guests parting before them.  Finally, what seemed to him both an eternity and a microsecond later, they stood directly in front of each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” Darcy stared up at him through her dark eyelashes.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Doll,” he breathed out.  He was impressed with himself that he was even able to get that much out.  She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his long life.  The tilt of her cherry red lips was her response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You are wearing the hell outta that tux, Buckmeister,” she complimented.  Her right hand twitched forward as if it moved to touch him of its own accord, but then her brain kicked in and she pulled it back to her side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You . . .you look . . .” Bucky couldn’t even manage a complete sentence with her in front of him looking like she did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I look what?” she gently prodded.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew words would fail him.  So he brought both his hands up and gently cupped her face. He heard her surprised inhale, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers.  He hoped that she could see all the love he had for her in them.  The softening of the skin around her eyes and lips let him think that she’d seen it, or at least enough of it.  Slowly, so slowly so that she could back away if she wanted to, he leaned his head down and pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss; she responded immediately.  There was nothing vulgar or hurried about the kiss.  It was tender and almost fragile, just like the moment.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When they finally pulled back from the kiss neither spoke, they just stared into each other’s eyes with soft smiles gracing their lips.  Since they were already in the middle of the dance floor, Bucky gently guided Darcy’s left hand that was holding her clutch purse up to his right shoulder.  He clasped her right hand tenderly in his left hand, fully aware of the extra strength in that hand.  His right arm looped around her waist and tugged her closer to him, pressing their bodies up against each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Bucky led Darcy in the most romantic slow dance of her entire life.  Neither spoke, words would’ve been superfluous.  The kept their gazes locked together, letting their eyes communicate where words had failed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bucky didn’t break eye contact, nor did they stop dancing, until Steve clasped him on the shoulder and whispered that it was time to leave.  Bucky lifted his head and glanced around the room and realized that other than some of the staff they were the last ones there. He hadn’t noticed any of the people leaving, nor the time passing. Darcy must’ve looked around the room too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Holy shit,” she muttered.  “I didn’t even notice that everybody left.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me either,” he admitted.  She glanced up and met his eyes, a small smile forming on her lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she breathed out, barely blinking.  Just as they were about to get lost in each other’s eyes again Steve cleared his throat next to them.  The both blushed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they turned to follow Steve and Natasha out of the ballroom Bucky gingerly clasped her tiny hand in his much larger metal hand.  She was pretty sure that it was only his reflexes that came from his training and instincts that kept them from running into things or tripping on their way down to the car that Steve had borrowed for the night, because they never took their eyes off each other until he helped her into the back seat of the car.  When he climbed in the other side he wrapped his arm up the back of the seat.  Darcy took it for the invitation it was and slid over and cuddled up to Bucky.  He spent the entire ride back to the Tower where they were all crashing for the night trying to believe his luck.  He also decided that maybe galas weren’t so bad after all.</span>
</p>
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